Today women are under pressure like never before to be pretty on the outside. It’s as if we’re in race to be slim and fit, to be dressed in the finest, prettiest clothes even if their knock-offs of the real thing, to have contoured faces and perfect hair, and nice handbags. There is every kind of video one could want could search for on how to change your outward appearance, videos on hair and make-up, videos on clothes, on how to look sexier.

This superficial behavior is rooted in a culture in which all the images and ideas of beauty being shown to women everyday come from through the vast array of entertainment and social media which have began to focus more on the outward appearance and Hollywood glamour than the true beauty that comes from within.

Peter put it this way:

Don’t be merely concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should be more focused on clothing yourselves with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 1 Peter 3:1-4

It’s to the point that people are profiting from the insecurities of women that are in a race to look like what the media has defined as pretty. Everything is for sell, we can buy fake anything – hair, nails, eyelashes, butts, hips, breast, you name it, make-up can be done to change a woman to look totally different. Designer knock-off sell all over the internet and in small stores so that those who can’t afford it but have a desire to look pretty and feel glamorous can have the clothes to complete facial façade.

It is more important to have a well dressed and beautiful spirit than a pretty face.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with dressing yourself each and every day to look and feel pretty, to be clear I like to get dressed and like to look pretty myself but it’s what’s going on your heart that matters to God. I’m definitely a lady and love to make myself look good because it makes me feel good but I also take the time clothe my heart so that my spirit radiates with the beauty that is precious and pleasing to God. Because, “TheLorddoes not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart,” 1 Samuel 16:7.

However some women don’t feel the same way they look on the outside, as pretty as they may appear to be. I know because at one point in my life I was one of those women.

Sometimes it’s all just a façade, a front, a keeping up of appearances but they’re hurting, broken, angry, ashamed, defeated inside. Some women seem angry but inside they are really hurting. Some women seem hurt because inside they are really angry and have not resolved their issues. They’ve got busted hearts.

Inside their heart, their inner-most secret place is bitterness, pride, bondage, fear, feelings of unworthiness and low self-esteem, shame, jealousy, ambition, envy, distrust, manipulation, greed, gluttony, strife, unforgiveness, lust, addictions to sex, drugs, words of rejection spoken years ago, memories of past molestation, rape, secret abortions, thoughts of being used, abused, discarded maybe even by someone who they put their trust and over and over again, and the list could go on.

We hide behind the pretense of being well put together when many of us are falling apart inside, like dead men’s bones rotting away with all manner of ugliness.

Jesus said,

For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.Matthew 23:27.

The reality is that when you have ugliness going on inside it doesn’t matter how pretty you look on the outside or how well hidden, sooner or later the inner-you behind the outward show will come to the surface and the façade will be over. This is why so many women that seem to have it all together are falling seemingly, suddenly apart.

The question is: which of these is lodge in your heart? What are you hiding behind your pretty face?

Beloved, it doesn’t matter what it is know that God wants to take away the garments of your past and your pain and dress you up in true beauty so that the beauty of your spirit outshines what people see on the outside.